


Plummet

by Oceanbreeze7



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Angst, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Episode s06e05 The Black Paladins, Heavy Angst, Hurt Keith (Voltron), Hurt No Comfort, Hurt Shiro (Voltron), Keith (Voltron) Angst, Keith (Voltron) is a Mess, Keith (Voltron)-centric, Not Beta Read, Pining Shiro (Voltron), Season/Series 06, The Author Regrets Nothing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-16
Updated: 2018-06-16
Packaged: 2019-05-23 23:03:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,509
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14943021
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Oceanbreeze7/pseuds/Oceanbreeze7
Summary: Shiro fell for Keith at some point, a moment too indistinct to remember. Hued with the fading pinks and oranges of sunset. Splattered with engine grease, sweat and laughter. Spoken in hushed voices at midnight, naming the constellations quietly as if they were a secret to be shared with no one else.Keith knew the exact moment he fell. Hanging by his knife, the word exploding in bright reds and flames and the loud screech of his life falling to pieces.Shiro fell for Keith slowly, under the night sky with whispers of space.Keith fell for Shiro, bathed in white and hanging in his grasp, because he would never let him go again.





	Plummet

**Author's Note:**

  * For [arahir](https://archiveofourown.org/users/arahir/gifts).



> This work is a gift to Arahir, mostly because their incredible salt and remarkable sass caused me to fall in love with this series even more than I anticipated in the upcoming season release.  
> I know, without their sarcasm and respectable devotion I likely wouldn't have been as enveloped by this dumpster fire as I am now.  
> That, and I really wanted to have the first completed fic for Season 6 out here.

Shiro fell for Keith at some point, a moment too indistinct to remember. Hued with the fading pinks and oranges of sunset. Splattered with engine grease, sweat and laughter. Spoken in hushed voices at midnight, naming the constellations quietly as if they were a secret to be shared with no one else. 

Keith knew the exact moment he fell. Hanging by his knife, the word exploding in bright reds and flames and the loud  _ screech _ of his life falling to pieces. 

Shiro fell for Keith slowly, under the night sky with whispers of space.

Keith fell for Shiro, bathed in white and hanging in his grasp, because he would never let him go again.

* * *

“Class, this is Mr. Shirogane here from the Galaxy Garris-.”

Keith didn’t bother looking over, already knowing the rehearsed speech that all job fair workers gave. He ignored it, staring out the window instead of paying any respect to the nameless man. 

He talked on, a gentle voice that answered obnoxious questions as if they would never bother him. He sounded like he would never be tired, never snap or raise his voice to anyone.

It wasn’t the tone which caused Keith to look over, it was the gentle laugh untouched by cruelty and wordlessly promising help. 

Keith looked over, and for the first time in a while allowed himself to dream a little more.

* * *

 

“When are you going to let me drive it?” Keith huffed, crossing his arms and leaning against the wing of the battered red hover bike. 

Shiro arched one eyebrow, smiling gently and crossing his arms in cue. He leaned back against the seat, resting his weight against the sun damaged leather. “I’d rather you crash the simulator than crash us for real.”

Keith’s hands jerked into fists, he ducked his head lower into the cloth of his jacket. “I won’t crash us!”

Shiro’s eyes gleamed, reflecting the orange of the sunset. He glowed like a phoenix, something bright and beautiful and made to  _ soar.  _

“I know.” Shiro soothed, smiling at the secret between the two of them, “you’re going to have to break my records somehow. Better you have at least  _ one  _ crash to your name, can’t having you beating my scores that easy!”

Shiro was laughing, ruffling Keith’s hair before curling his arms back in his bomber jacket. Keith ducked his head into his sweatshirt again, peering out over the sand and cacti to watch the sun descent to the horizon.

“It’s beautiful.” Shiro spoke, soft and shared between them. “What the desert has made.”

Keith shrugged slightly, “It’s pretty.”

It was. 

Shiro looked back, illuminated and silent. 

_ You are. _

* * *

“Hey.”

“Look, I  _ know  _ I messed up.” Keith seethed, spitting the words viciously from his tongue. The fury of a rattlesnake, his hands shaking instead of a tail. His face hurt, blood leaking and darkening under his skin into bruises and blackened eyes. “You should send me back to the home already.”

The words tasted like venom in his mouth, killing him sharply and without mercy. “This place isn’t for me.”

_ I’m not good enough for this. _

Shiro shook his head, brows pinched forward in concern with empathy turning his eyes wet. “Keith, you can do this.”

Keith chewed his tongue so sharp he tasted iron. He closed his eyes to shy away from the disappointment he couldn’t ever forget hearing. He waited for the yelling, for the screams about his worth and the demands expected of him. He waited, because tonight he’d scream from his roof like a coyote who lost its pack.

“I will  _ never  _ give up on you.” Shiro promised instead. Keith’s heart swelled, pressing against his sternum in such a way his breathing stopped and his throat choked. His face hurt, the bruises somehow were making his eyes wet. 

(It was the bruises, they must have damaged his eyes enough to make them water. They must have damaged his ribs, that was the reason he couldn’t breathe and the reason his hands were shaking.)

“But more importantly,” Shiro continued, gentle and kind and something far more beautiful than anything Keith ever deserved, “you can’t give up on yourself.”

* * *

_ It’s killing me when you’re away. _

The desert was something broken, the air once calm and quiet now isolating and oppressive. 

The bike, something Keith labored over and spent hours under. Learning the difference between valves and clamps, changing engines and cleaning dirt. It felt heavy, restraining.

It was a memory in an object. A promise broken and forgotten like the truth of what ever happened. 

Keith screamed into the metal so loud his throat turned raw and as red as the paint he and Shiro choose.

* * *

_ It’s good to have you back. _

_ It’s good to be back. _

__

Saving Shiro was something he never regretted. His knife cutting away the restraints, hauling his unconscious body away from a government site with no regard to the laws he had broken.

He could be arrested, thrown away for the rest of his life.

(But in all honesty, what sort of life was there without Shiro?)

* * *

_ Split it open, Keith! _

The amount of trust, never questioning and never bothering to double check.

Keith had never had that before, and slowly through time, he began to feel like it didn’t fit him oddly.

(He was okay with it, he was okay with this if this was what a family was.)

* * *

_ If it wasn’t for you, my life would’ve been a lot different. _

Keith would be in jail, passed between child protective services and abusive foster care until eventually the drunkard was a rapist or a murderer. 

He could have been dead, arrested for assault, addicted to drugs or drinking and smoking his thoughts and problems away.

He could have been face down in the desert sun, baking next to the cacti, drooling mincemeat from his ears.

Keith did not know kindness, he did not expect it or deserve it. He did not deserve the gentle care or caution, the careful hands on his shoulder to steady him in the world.

(Years now, and he was beginning to believe perhaps he was something to be loved.)

* * *

_ Keith, if I don’t make it out of here, I want you to lead Voltron. _

(Was it then, he forgot how to imagine a life without Shiro?)

* * *

_ Shiro is the one person who never gave up on me. I’m not giving up on him. _

(Was it then, he forgot what it was like to have nobody to love?)

* * *

_ This one’s for you, Shiro! _

* * *

__

Shiro confessed to him, back at the Garrison late at night when classes were finished, that he didn’t know what he’d do after everything.

“Get a job, a house.” Shiro awkwardly rubbed the back of his neck, shrugging back against the wall, “maybe a dog. Do you like dogs?”

Keith blinked in surprise, “why are you asking me?”

Shiro paused, his face going blink before a small flush invaded. The high edges of his cheekbones turning pink, his eyes drifting downwards awkwardly. “I ah, well, I can’t really imagine life without you. I mean- if you’re okay with it, we should get a dog. Or a cat, although sometimes-”

“You want me to live with you?” Keith blurted, eyebrows raised and eyes wide in sheer disbelief. Hope blooming, desperation receding as he too realized, what was a life without Shiro?

The other grinned, eyes sparking with something Keith couldn’t place. “You’re not getting rid of me that easy, Keith.”

* * *

_ “How many times are you gonna have to save me before this is over?” _

_ “As many times as it takes.” _

* * *

It was never a question, there was never a moment of hesitation in Keith’s choice.

The adrenaline pumping, his joints and muscles screaming in pain as every breath hurt from the fire in the air. Fingers trembling, nearly broken from where they grasped the hilt of his knife. 

The world was falling apart around them, Keith’s world was collapsing but he knew that it was alright. There was always a way out, there was  _ always  _ a way to survive or to overcome any adversity.

The explosions above them, highlighting the core below which shone as brightly as the desert sun; it was beautiful like a sunrise.

(How long had it been since they sat out and watched it, how long ago was it when they bathed in the pink and red light and shared those moments for only themselves?)

_ (Shiro, please.) _

_ (I love you.) _

They plummeted, downwards in the pull of gravity with hands gripped tightly together. Shiro alight with ethereal light, unconscious, asleep, unknowing.

Keith drank in the sight of him, there were no escapes anymore. Only Keith and Shiro, together falling towards something unknown and bigger then them and really- Keith had no doubts that everything would be alright.

(Keith closed his eyes, accepted the light because if the last thing he ever saw was Shiro, then he was okay with that.)

Shiro fell for Keith years ago, and lost him.

Keith fell for Shiro, so he would never lose him again.

 


End file.
